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I did that to make a point. Most people don't know what they are talking about and yet I spent less and I get just as good performance.
I also play all my games on ultra with no problem.
I'd like to test it on gta5 but the game isn't my style.

OK, but what was the question asked in the polls? "What part would you pick for your system?" Because people are just going to pick the best performing, most future-proof parts, not necessarily the most economical parts. And if they're choosing each part independently, there's no thought about how the whole system fits together, nor are you going to know who picked what parts as part of their build.

I have had the same exact results with the 8320. 1.40v was stable, but too hot for air. Turned it down to 4.7ghz to keep it @ 60c under load. Water cooled could get to 5 no problem, but if you're building an amd rig it is usually budget oriented and rarely go for water.

I was building quite a few of these same rigs for a while and had all the math done.. I don't know where I put all that info at the moment. But I was basically turning the 8320's into 9590's. They ended up running around 190 watts with a 260 frequency and 18 multiplier.
http://pcpartpicker.com/b/j9LD4D

Really good budget build im not really big on overclocking but 5ghz and not even breaking to 70* on load really nice and your not even doing CLWC, this is almost identical on my very first build on my 600T although its all air cooled, your right about that on building a pc, you might as well get another 8gig of stick to take advantage of the dual channel that the board supports, also good deal on the card for only 200£ that's nice if your not happy with the stock cooler it has you can change it to a better one but I guess you already know that.+1

Wow, Nice build! I like that poll idea for picking parts, makes it pretty unique. I have a 6300 with a stock cooler but it gets loud so I'm thinking of getting a hyper 212 plus. I think it might be hard to overclock since my mobo doesn't have heatsinked vrms. How does a 5ghz 6300 stand against an i5?

I use Core Temp for AMD temps. I set the temp to readout to show how close to thermal limit I am. I found it to be read about 10 degrees Celsius too cool as compared to AMD overdrive. HW monitor temp package reading si the one to use on that app but it was also off by 10 degrees (matched core temp). I had my 6300 to 4.7 but temps were way to high with my modest air cooler. I would just be careful getting to that temp due to the inaccuracies of getting a good temp readout.
Did you run prime 95, max heat??

I plan to build a PC with the NZXT Phantom 240 and AMD Radeon R9 290. I'm wondering if the case has good airflow and if I need extra fans, and where to position them, to keep the GPU cool. Also would this build be strong even with an i5 over the FX-6300? Thanks :)

Grats getting to 5ghz. 66 degrees though, getting a little toasty. I have an 8320 clocked around 4.7ghz. I stopped at 4.7 to keep my temp @ 60 C under load, and that's on air. If I wasn't so lazy and just got a water cooler I could get it to 5.

Yes, you can run new games on high settings with 700 bucks worth of hardware if you do it right. Spend the money where it counts, good cooling, and good overclocking. +1

I'm confused. You stress test for three hours, then switch to games for another hour, and then check your temps? In that last hour of gaming, isn't your CPU going to cool down considerably from when it was stress testing? I don't OC, but my CPU is levelled out at 50C after four hours of Prime95. When I'm gaming, it doesn't go above 40C.